Ada County Cat Shelter to Get New Pool

Good news for Feline Fine, the no-kill cat shelter in Boise, which is finally getting a new swimming pool for its orphan cats. The news comes following a generous donation from the 55+ Kittie Committee, a group dedicated to finding homes for Boise’s alley cats.

Funding for the swimming pool took a little over a year to raise, according to committee members.

“We’ve held over a dozen bake sales and at one point we were in direct competition with the Girl Scouts,” Esther Monroe, Founder of the 55+ Kittie Committee, said. “We sold about 17 t-shirts too.”

The money raised from those sales barely exceeded $1,000. That was not enough to pay for construction, which is expected to exceed half a million dollars.

“We had to come up with the money somehow, so we made an endowment program last year, and thankfully one of our members had passed away, leaving us with a $400,000 donation,” Monroe said.

The remainder of the funding will come from Boise’s Urban Renewal District Program.

Ada County Highway District, which has been fighting these programs is against the new pool funding.

“This could greatly interrupt our planned road closures for Eagle Rd.,” ACHD Supervisor, Carl Weatherby said. “Every time the city reallocates our funds like this we are unable to staff road closures and redirect traffic so that it looks like we’re working. Very disappointed about this new pool.”

The city will require lifeguards trained in Animal-CPR, as well as a strict no running or diving policy.

“Safety is our number one priority,” Feline Fine president, Steve Hamburg said. “We’ll have swim lessons for all the cats. Each and every cat here will be a certified swimmer, I guarantee it.”

Hamburg believes that pet owners are looking for cats who can swim.

“Being in a landlocked state, a lot of animals don’t know how to swim,” Hamburg said. “What would they do when the Boise river floods really bad one of these years?”

Construction of the pool is scheduled to begin in the fall, and unfortunately, the pool is not open to the public. No humans or dogs will be permitted in the pool either